The Mets announced that they released outfielder Rob Mackowiak from Triple-A Buffalo‘s roster to make room for Brandon Knight. I don’t think that Mackowiak had a realistic shot at making it to the big leagues with the Mets this season anyway. They don’t need another lefty outfielder. They’ve got too many as it is.
Brandon Knight did a decent job pitching five innings and giving up two runs. Then the disaster that the Mets call a bullpen took over. It took seven relievers to stumble through the final four innings giving up five runs along the way.
Carlos Beltran lit up the Nats pitchers for two homers. And Jose Reyes led off the game with a homer as well. The Mets had 10 hits in the game and four were home runs.
Apparently, every game is going to be a nail biter even when the Mets score nine runs. This is no way to prepare for a serious playoff run.
New York Mets (83-67 Road: 38-38) at Washington Nationals (58-93 Home: 33-40)7:10pm
Brandon Knight (0-0 6.43) vs. Shairon Martis (0-2 2.70)
What to watch: The Mets need a win about as badly as they ever have this season. They turn to spot starter Knight, back from the Olympics, to set them straight. More importantly, the Mets have only scored 2 runs in 18 innings against the Nationals in this series. That’s ugly.
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Double-A Binghamton outfielder Dan Murphy was promoted to Triple-A New Orleans. It’s a well deserved promotion for Murphy. He hit .308 with 13 HR and 67 RBI’s at Binghamton. He’s definitely a candidate to make a contribution at the big league level late this season or next year.
Double-A pitcher Jon Niese was promoted to Triple-A New Orleans and may be a candidate to make a spot start for the big club next week. The Mets will need a starter on August 11th and Niese may get the call against Pittsburgh in a makeup game.
Tony Armas, Jr. is scheduled to have hernia surgery this week.
USA Olympian Brandon Knight has cleared waivers and is being assigned back to Triple-A New Orleans. He’s with the Olympic team now in California.
The game started ugly with Mets spot starter Brandon Knight giving up four runs in the first inning. He settled down to end up working five innings without giving up another run. More importantly, the Mets offense fought back to tie the game up several times. That’s a good sign for a team that sleep-walked through the first 2+ months of the season.
The comebacks weren’t enough to hold off Albert Pujols. He homered in the 14th inning off Aaron Heilman to win the game. But Heilman pitched three innings of relief on 58 pitches. The bullpen was spent and Heilman took the brunt of the workload in extras. You have to give him credit for that, even in a loss.
Several Mets had big offensive games. Jose Reyes went 4 for 8 with 2 2B and his 12th homer. Carlos Delgado went 2 for 6 with 2 HR’s. Fernando Tatis went 3 for 6 with a dramatic HR in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. It’s incredible how many big hits Tatis has had this season. He’s really got a penchant for getting hits in big spots.
The Phillies and Marlins both won so the Mets hold a one game lead in the NL East.
St. Louis Cardinals (57-48 Road: 27-23) at New York Mets (56-47 Home: 31-19) 7:10pm
Joel Pineiro (3-4 4.52) vs. Brandon Knight (0-0 0.00)
What to watch: The Mets are going for their fourth straight win. But they’re relying on Triple-A call up Knight making a spot start for Pedro Martinez. Pineiro’s last two starts haven’t been that good. Hopefully, the Mets can skate by for a game until Pedro gets back.
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